1 Port Authority of Allegheny County Minutes

PORT AUTHORITY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY MINUTES OF THE REGULAR BOARD MEETING FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2018 The Regular Meeting of the Board of Port Authority of Allegheny County was held on Friday, September 28, 2018, at 9:30 a.m., at the Authority’s Administration Offices, 345 Sixth Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15222-2527, pursuant to due public notice given as required by law. Board Members Jeff Letwin, Chair Jennifer Liptak Michelle Zmijanac Ann Ogoreuc John Tague Stephanie Turman (via phone) D. Raja Senator Jim Brewster Representative Dom Costa Rob Vescio Rob Kania Joel Lennen, General Counsel Port Authority Staff Katharine Kelleman, chief executive officer, Bill Miller, chief operations officer, Keith Wargo, chief Engineer, Engineering; Mike Cetra, assistant general manager Legal and Corporate Services; Pete Schenk, chief financial officer; Jim Ritchie, chief communications officer; Jeffrey Devlin, chief information officer; David Huffaker, chief development officer; Marsha McCall, associate internal auditor; Melissa Rubin, Public Relations coordinator; Maria Nickerson, manager Internal Audit; Amy Giammanco. senior training specialist; Jerimaine Ward, manager Contract Administration; Tony Trona, director Purchasing and Materials Management; Glenn Meister, senior internal auditor; Ed Typanski, director Grants and Capital Projects; Catherine Terrill, Professional Services contract specialist; Adam Brandolph, Public Relations representative; Inez Colon, director Employment; Breen Masciotra, TOD project manager; Fred Mergner, assistant manager Scheduling and Service Planning; Melissa Dunbar, Professional Services contract specialist; Deborah Skillings; and Diane Williamson, executive assistant. Other Carolyn Lenigan, Glenn Walsh, Carl Boltan, WRA, James Keener, President ACTC, Harry Liller, speaker, Brian Schull, Andrew Hussein, Josh Malloy, PPT, Damon Rhodes, Matt Erb, Tree Pittsburgh, speaker, Alicia Carberry, Mayor’s Office, speaker, Lisa Ceoffe, City of Pittsburgh, speaker. The Chair called the September 28, 2018 Regular Meeting of the Board to order. After the recital of the pledge of allegiance, a recommendation was made for approval of the minutes of the July 27, 2018 Regular Meeting. A motion was made, seconded and unanimously passed. The Chair called on Ms. Kelleman for a report of the Chief Executive Officer. Ms. Kelleman first acknowledged active and retired members of the Port Authority family who have passed in the last 1 two months. We’ve lost operator Ebonee McLaughlin and our retired operators Joseph Minick, Ralph Speer, Edward Thomas, Nicholas Dabruzzo, Gary Payne, Bernard Gardner, Kalman Price, George Zamborsky and Paul Lackovich. We send our condolences to their families. Ms. Kelleman first reported on the August 5 Norfolk Southern freight train derailment landing about 100 feet from our Station Square Station platform, which derailment caused extensive damage. Because of the steep terrain, repairs were difficult for Norfolk Southern, making car removal challenging. Once the trailers were cleared, we had 1,066 feet of light rail track and over 4,000 feet of overhead electrical lines that needed to be replaced. The 5,000-pound support structure for the overhead also needed to be replaced. The derailment also caused major traffic disruptions and impacted our service. We diverted rail cars back to our Allentown line, and thankfully, the line is in very good working condition. Although rail passengers had a longer trip, we were able to continue to provide service. Despite these obstacles, Ms. Kelleman stated that she is extremely proud of how our Port Authority team kept service on the rails, dedicated service on the street, and crews had us back up and running on the rail system in an unprecedented 13 days. Ms. Kelleman next reported that this week, County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and County Council recognized 19 of our employees for their hard work and dedication. Ms. Kelleman extended her thanks to the following employees as well: Danielle Hilgartner and Tod McElravy of Rail Operations; Brad Straight, Lucian Cappetta, Frank Urda, Chuck Rompala and Pat Sipes from Road Operations; Brain Dudas from our Customer Service Center; and Adam Brandolph from Communications. Every single tweet that came in was answered around the event and there were people on social media for 20 hours with good and solid responses. Ms. Kelleman continued by recognizing Greg O’Hare, Steve Kladney, Jim LaBella, Dave Lynn, John Binsse, Paul Deiseroth and Matt Homic from Technical Support and Capital Programs. She also thanked Keith Wargo who was up for 30 hours straight making sure the contactors were doing what they were supposed to do immediately after the derailment. She also thanked Chad Snyder and Lieutenant Brian O’Malley from Safety and Security. She also mentioned that we could not forget Princess Ferguson, our off-board fare collector who was working at the station at the time of the accident and ran out of her booth toward a derailing freight train to tell people to be safe. As Ms. Kelleman has said before, we do not know if that is dedication or crazy, but we are very lucky to have staff who made the recovery possible. Ms. Kelleman stated that clearly, our ridership took a hit in August from the train derailment. We had 21,000 average weekday ridership compared to 27,000 in 2017. Nevertheless, overall, we are still tracking three to four percent above the previous year on total ridership. Next, Ms. Kelleman reported on the status of our tactical plan, which will improve the ability to stay on budget. We are moving swiftly on the programs and earlier this month, our leadership team met our manager staff. This enabled our management staff to get together to discuss the plan and start breaking into teams to tackle the issues ahead of us. Ms. Kelleman will continue to update the Board on this progress. 2 Ms. Kelleman reported that it is United Way time again. She has been a participant herself with United Way Programs and supported functions for nearly 20 years. Last year Port Authority employees raised $113,000 and our goal this year is $150,000. From a leadership perspective, Ms. Kelleman is looking forward to supporting these valuable programs to fight hunger and homelessness. Finally, Ms. Kelleman reported that we just concluded the American Public Transportation Association’s Annual Meeting in Nashville. For folks who have not heard about this conference, it is our industry’s best of the best coming together to talk best practices, cap off what we learned in the previous year and chart our course going forward. Sessions included such topics as transitioning to electric buses and innovative procurement. This was a great event and we will continue to share these experiences with the Board. I am now the vice chair of APTA’s Mobility Management Committee, which means when we have these industry- wide conversations about what does feasibility look like, Port Authority will be at the table a lot. We will be chairing the committee in the near future and will be leading a Rail Transit Committee on Workforce Development. That concluded the report of the Chief Executive Officer. The Chair called on Ms. Zmijanac for a report of the Performance Oversight Committee. Ms. Zmijanac reported that a meeting of the Performance Oversight Committee was held on September 20, 2018 and the minutes from the previous meeting were approved by the Committee. It was reported at the meeting that Total Operating Income through August was approximately $800,000, ahead of budget due to higher Passenger Revenues. Total Expenses through August were approximately $4.1 million under budget, but Materials & Supplies is exceeding budget through August due to higher major component usage for the light rail vehicles. There were eight resolutions reviewed by the Performance Oversight Committee for consideration. Ms. Zmijanac reported that the Committee first reviewed three procurement items and found the bids to be in accordance with the Authority’s procurement policies and procedures, the prices to be fair and reasonable, and the bids to be responsive and the bidders responsible. The Performance Oversight Committee therefore recommended for award the three items listed in the resolution for the total amount of approximately $1.56 million. On behalf of the Performance Oversight Committee, Ms. Zmijanac respectfully requested approval of the resolution. It was moved, seconded and unanimously agreed that the resolution be approved as presented. The next resolution sought Authorization to Award a Construction Contract for Ancillary Services. The contract provides for HVAC ancillary construction services over a three-year period for upgrades and improvements to property and facilities owned and/or operated by Port Authority. After review of the three bids received, it was determined that the bid of Quality Mechanical Services, Inc. was the lowest responsive bid from a responsible bidder meeting the Authority’s specifications for the contract. 3 The Performance Oversight Committee recommended awarding the contract to Quality Mechanical Services, Inc. for an amount not to exceed $553,245, subject to the completion of the pre-award requirements. On behalf of the Performance Oversight Committee, Ms. Zmijanac respectfully requested approval of the resolution. It was moved, seconded and unanimously agreed that the resolution be approved as presented. Ms. Zmijanac presented the next resolution seeking authorization to extend and amend agreements for temporary technical and

Load more